"ECONOMICS ARE THE METHOD; THE OBJECT IS TO CHANGE THE HEART AND SOUL."

- MARGARET THATCHER

I DIDN'T GROW UP IN THATCHERIAN BRITAIN SO I DON'T HAVE QUITE AS GOOD AN UNDERSTANDING OF HER REPUTATION AND HER AS A CHARACTER WITHIN POPULAR BRITISH CONSCIOUSNESS AS PERHAPS I WOULD LIKE, BUT THIS WOMAN UNDERSTOOD HEGEMONY.  IN A MORE FOCUSED SPIRIT OF REVOLUTION I RETURN AGAIN TO MY AMASSMENT OF WRITINGS ON THE SUBJECT:

"THE 'FREEDOM' PRODUCED BY INSTRUMENTS OF THE RULING CLASS...MOLDS THE 'FREE' SUBJECT TO THE NEEDS OF AN ECONOMIC BASE, "THE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMIC APPARATUS OF PRODUCTION"."

- DOMINIC MASTROIANNI, 'HEGEMONY IN ANTONIO GRAMSCI', 2002

INCURRING A CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURE IS ONLY SUPERFICIAL DAMAGE.  LIKE A WEED, IT ONLY RISKS REGROWTH.  A TRUE REVOLUTION WILL COME FROM DEEPER WITHIN.

MORE ON THIS LATER.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC / 

I WAS AT THE WIGMORE HALL TONIGHT FOR THE WINNER'S RECITAL OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC PATRON'S AWARD.  'CELLIST LUKA SULIC PERFORMED A SELECTION OF EARLY-MID TWENTIETH CETURY PIECES ACCOMPANIED BY NADAV HETZKA  ON PIANO.

TUCKED IN AMONGST THE REPERTOIRE WAS THIS ABSOLUTE GEM OF A PIECE - ORIGINALLY FOR SOLO VIOLIN & PIANO BUT TRANSCRIBED FOR SOLO 'CELLO & PIANO BY MATS LIDSTROM - SIBELIEUS' BERCEUSE, OP.79 NO.6   

(THE ABOVE RECORDING IS ACTUALLY THE ORIGINAL VERSON FOR VIOLIN & PIANO, A 1985 RECORDING OF SERGEI STADLER ON VIOLIN ACCOMPANIED BY JUHANI LAGERSPETZ)

THE FINAL TWO MOVEMENTS OF BRITTEN'S CELLO SONATA IN C WERE ALSO PRETTY SNAZZY.

THE PERFECT HUMAN / 

"TODAY, TOO, I EXPERIENCED SOMETHING I HOPE TO UNDERSTAND IN A FEW DAYS."

- JØRGEN LETH, DET PERFEKTE MENNESKE ('THE PERFECT HUMAN', 1967).

"CANNOT YOU SEE, CANNOT ALL YOU LECTURERS SEE, THAT IT IS WE THAT ARE DYING, AND THAT DOWN HERE THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY LIVES IS THE MACHINE?  WE CREATED THE MACHINE, TO DO OUR WILL, BUT WE CANNOT MAKE IT DO OUR WILL NOW...THE MACHINE DEVELOPS - BUT NOT ON OUR LINES.  THE MACHINE PROCEEDS - BUT NOT TO OUR GOAL.  WE ONLY EXIST AS THE BLOOD CORPUSCLES THAT COURSE THROUGH ITS ARTERIES, AND IF IT COULD WORK WITHOUT US, IT WOULD LET US DIE."

- E.M. FORSTER, THE MACHINE STOPS (1928).

VIVIFYING THE SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED IN AN EXCELLENT ESSAY I READ LAST MONTH - VILÉM FLUSSER'S 'TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF PHOTOGRAPHY'.  MORE ON THAT LATER.

BURBERRY BEIJING APR '11 /

"CHINA IS SET TO BECOME BURBERRY'S BIGGEST SINGLE MARKET IN JUST FIVE YEARS AT ITS CURRENT RATE OF GROWTH - WHICH IS ALREADY THE COMPANY'S FASTEST...LUXURY BRANDS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SEDUCE CHINA WITH PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT...BY LAUNCHING EXCLUSIVE MODELS, PRODUCTS AND OCCASIONALLY EVEN ENTIRE RANGES FOR THE MARKET."

- ROBB YOUNG, 'CHINA FIRST: COAXING OR KOWTOWING?'

RESIST ALL SELF-ACTUALIZATION THAT IS NOT ON YOUR OWN TERMS.

PRADA SS11 BEIJING SHOW /

JAN '11

RECONSTITUTING A BRAND IDENTITY TO ACCOMMODATE THE DEMANDS OF CHANGING CONSUMER MARKETS;  A SHIFT IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC POWER PRODUCING THE RETHINKING (AND REDESIGN) OF CONTEMPORARY EUROCENTRED FASHION SYSTEMS. 

A YEAR AFTER THE SINO-GENERATED CAMPAIGN VISUALS OF SS10, PRADA RETURN TO CHINA TO CEMENT THEIR RETAIL PRESENCE BY RE-STAGING A LOOSE CONSOLIDATION OF THEIR SS11 MENS  & WOMENS READY-T0-WEAR COLLECTIONS, WITH THE ADDITION OF SEVERAL PIECES EXCLUSIVE TO THE BEIJING SHOW.  2010 ALSO SAW THE WELL-DUE BREAKTHROUGH AND INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS OF A SURGE OF ASIAN MODELS, MOST OF WHOM APPEAR IN THE RE-STAGED SHOW, REFLECTING THE CONTINUED COMMITMENT OF THE BRAND TO ADAPT AND TRANSLATE ITS SINGULAR VISION TO THE TRANSFORMING MAKE-UP OF GLOBAL CONSUMER IDENTITY.    

THIS ALSO FOLLOWS A RECORD 31% SURGE IN REVENUE FOR THE PRADA GROUP LAST YEAR, DEFYING THE PESSIMISTIC PROJECTIONS OF ANALYSTS DURING RECESSION  AND THE "WORST ECONOMIC SLUMP IN DECADES" FOR THE LUXURY GOODS SECTOR (HULMES [REUTERS], 2011).  HAVING GIVEN THE ALL-CLEAR FOR AN INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING ON THE HONG-KONG MARKET SET FOR JUNE/JULY THIS YEAR, THE PRADA GROUP WILL BE LISTING APPROXIMATELY 15-20% OF THE GROUP ON THE HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE (JUCCA [REUTERS], FEB 2011) - ENTICING A TREND (IN TRUE PRADA FASHION) AMONG INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS TO FLOCK TO HONG KONG RATHER THAN NEW YORK, LONDON OR MILAN TO LIST PUBLIC SHARES (COOKSON [FINANCIAL TIMES], FEB 2011). 

"DESPITE ITS ORIGINS IN A RADICAL REFUSAL OF INSTRUMENTAL MEANING, SYMBOLISM APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ABSORBED BY MASS CULTURE, ENLISTED IN THE SPECTACLE THAT GIVES IMAGINARY FLESH TO  THE ABSTRACT REGIME OF COMMODITY EXCHANGE...THE GOALS OF A CRITICAL THEORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY OUGHT, ULTIMATELY, TO INVOLVE THE PRACTICAL, TO HELP POINT THE WAY TO A RADICAL, REINVENTED CULTURAL PRACTICE.  OTHER MORE POWERFUL CHALLENGES TO THE ORDER OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM NEED TO BE DISCOVERED AND INVENTED; RESISTANCES THAT UNITE CULTURE AND POLITICS.  SYMBOLIC REVOLTS ARE NOT ENOUGH, NOR IS A PURELY INSTRUMENTAL CONCEPTION OF POLITICS.  THIS...IS AN ATTEMPT TO POSE QUESTIONS THAT I TAKE TO BE ONLY PRELIMINARY, BUT NECESSARY, STEPS IN THAT DIRECTION."

- ALLAN SEKULA, "THE TRAFFIC IN PHOTOGRAPHS" (1981), FROM PHOTOGRAPHY AGAINST THE GRAIN: ESSAYS AND PHOTO WORKS 1973-83

REGARDING THE ROLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN REGION AS "THE ENGINE ROOM OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY", AND THE INCREASING CHINESE MILITARY PRESENCE:

"IT'S ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL THAT IT REMAINS STABLE - THAT IT REMAINS GOVERNED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW,"

- MICHÈLE FLOURNOY, U.S. UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR POLICY, FEB 2011

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"[CHINA IS]...THREATENING AMERICA'S GLOBAL ECONOMIC SUPREMACY. THIS CHALLENGES THE WORLD ORDER THAT HAS PREVAILED SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR."

- JUSTIN ROWLATT, 'THE CHINESE ARE COMING' EP. 2 (BBC), FEB 2011

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THIS MONOLITHICITY OF REPRESENTATION IS SYMPTOMATIC OF AN INABILITY OF WESTERN NATIONS TO COMPREHEND AN INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF POWER OF WHICH THEY ARE NO LONGER THE CENTRE.  FLEXIBILITY, NOT JUST OF INDUSTRY, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY OF ATTITUDES IS NEEDED.  AN HETEROGENOUS APPROACH TO THE QUESTION OF GLOBAL CHINESE IDENTITY/POWER MIGHT HELP TO OVERHAUL THE STAGNANT, COLD WAR ANXIETIES AND COLONIAL SOUR GRAPES FLAVOURING 'INTERNATIONAL' POLICY.

"English Canada was still colonial in the 1950's: reality and history were somewhere else, embodied in British men."

- pratt, m. 1992